The Anthracite Historical Discovery Center in conjunction with the Ben-Mar Restaurant will be conducting a monthly Museum Without Walls at the Ben-Mar Restaurante, 89 North Main Street in Carbondale on the First Thursday of each month. The events will include fun, art and activities including storytelling of local history. Parents can enjoy time out while children, ages Pre-K 5 to grade 5, spend an enjoyable evening from 5:30 to 8:00. The cost is $10.00 per child which includes dinner from the Ben-Mar's children's menu.

The event dates for 2010 are October 7th, November 4th and December 2nd. Mark your calendars for this fun and educational event! This event is being co-chaired by Joan Scavo and Mary Mararra of the AHDC.

You have heard it said that necessity is the mother of invention. Many great leaders of our our area, our nation, and the world have all faced challenges they fealt were too difficult to overcome. These great leaders all share one thing. they looked back to recount that many achievements they and others like them had accomplished in the past and drove on toward the future.

This is what the Anthracite Historical Discovery Center is all about. We must learn what has been accomplished in our past to gain direction for the future. Here at the online Discovery Center we feature a connection for our children to learn where we have come from. This connection will teach the next generation the hardships and triumphs of The Lackawanna Valleys past in order to encourage them to strive onward to better the future.

Carbondale, Pennsylvania was the site of the very first underground coal mine in North America! The Discovery Center is now under development on that very site in Historic Carbondale. While the physical Discovery Center is in development our "Discovery Center Without Walls" here will feature the fun, education, and connection that is the spirit of our mission.

Carbondale Was the First

There are many stories of children working to support their families and how a town called Carbondale was a fully operational community over a decade before the city of Scranton even existed.

Our goal with the Anthracite Historical Discovery Center is to have a hands-on learning center for children with a focus on the history in our area. History taught in the normal manner leaves children bored and seeking entertainment elsewhere. With the hand-on learning experience they will get right into history and become part of what things once were leaving them with a much greater understanding then the conventional teaching methods. Children by nature touch and feel their way through life and the goal of the Anthracite Historical Discovery Center is to allow them the involvement they desire. By expanding outward from the traditional subjects offered in the area the Discovery Center will only compliment the rich history already offered in the Lackawanna Valley.

Currently the property for this proposed facility resides upon the actual site of the first deep underground Anthracite coal mine in the Western Hemisphere.

Anthracite coal was not the only industry that developed as a result of coal mining. Perforated Steel, Silk Mills and the Garment Industry, all had great effects on the area and developed as a result of the mining industry. We feel that our children have begun to loose their roots and the meaning of their family culture. We intend to emphasize the different ethnic backgrounds that have blended so well here in the Carbondale area to create the culture we are all now proud to be part of.